OK, so I kept feeding her in her test tube because nobody answered! All the vinegar fly exoskeletons end in the cotton so I'm happy about it. I'm not happy about the fact that you guys like just leaved me. But tomorrow I'll be looking to all my other queens so that makes me happy again. By the way can you change the title of a topic and if you can how? I'll be back with more the next time.

I kept feeding her with fruit flies and I also put some Sugar-water in the outworld.
But she won't lay eggs and I don't know what's the problem.
I know she has mated because I found her while mating. So that's not the problem.
And I only look at her after two weeks, so stress also isn't the problem.(also about that I have an other queen that keeps eating her eggs while I only look at her after two weeks, so I don't know what's the problem)
Do one of you, antlovers, have an answer to this?

If you enjoy my expertise and identifications, please do not put wild populations at risk of disease by releasing pet colonies. We are responsible to give our pets the best care we can manage for the rest of their lives.

The reason that people don't always reply is because of a few reasons:

1. Most of the people on this forum are newbies and can't answer your questions as they are still figuring out everything themselves. Most prople leave the forum after learning all the basics. Only some stay after to help out others.

2. Those of us who are somewhat experienced are also trying to answer all the other newbie questions

3. You are dealing with a semi clausteral species, which only a select few on this forum have experience with. People like me who have been keeping ants for a few years but have never kept or really researched semi clausteral species can't answer questions about semi clausteral species.

Anyways, just be patient and remember that everyone who can help will try to if they have the time and see your post. .

Also, another tip: Antmaps, while helpful, is not an exhaustive list of species in your area. I have seen ant species in my area that are not on these maps. batspiderfish is really skilled at ID's, so if he/she says that your queen is not Formica rubra, he's almost certainly right.

Proverbs 6:6-8

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.

The reason that people don't always reply is because of a few reasons:

1. Most of the people on this forum are newbies and can't answer your questions as they are still figuring out everything themselves. Most prople leave the forum after learning all the basics. Only some stay after to help out others.

2. Those of us who are somewhat experienced are also trying to answer all the other newbie questions

3. You are dealing with a semi clausteral species, which only a select few on this forum have experience with. People like me who have been keeping ants for a few years but have never kept or really researched semi clausteral species can't answer questions about semi clausteral species.

Anyways, just be patient and remember that everyone who can help will try to if they have the time and see your post. .

Also, another tip: Antmaps, while helpful, is not an exhaustive list of species in your area. I have seen ant species in my area that are not on these maps. batspiderfish is really skilled at ID's, so if he/she says that your queen is not Formica rubra, he's almost certainly right.

Thx, I didn't know that. Especially the part with that the beginners leave the forum if they learned the basics.
And why didn't you ever keep a semi-claustral species. I thought all experienced keepers already had one.
And your signature is actually just proverbs 6:6-8 instead of 11. Just something that I noticed.
And to batspiderfish: sorry that I didn't fully use your advice. I will listen more now.
I also want to become experienced and help other people on this forum. Could I improve my knowledge in a way?

The reason that people don't always reply is because of a few reasons:

1. Most of the people on this forum are newbies and can't answer your questions as they are still figuring out everything themselves. Most prople leave the forum after learning all the basics. Only some stay after to help out others.

2. Those of us who are somewhat experienced are also trying to answer all the other newbie questions

3. You are dealing with a semi claustral species, which only a select few on this forum have experience with. People like me who have been keeping ants for a few years but have never kept or really researched semi claustral species can't answer questions about semi claustral species.

Anyways, just be patient and remember that everyone who can help will try to if they have the time and see your post. .

Also, another tip: Antmaps, while helpful, is not an exhaustive list of species in your area. I have seen ant species in my area that are not on these maps. batspiderfish is really skilled at ID's, so if he/she says that your queen is not Formica rubra, he's almost certainly right.

Thx, I didn't know that. Especially the part with that the beginners leave the forum if they learned the basics.
And why didn't you ever keep a semi-claustral species. I thought all experienced keepers already had one.
And your signature is actually just proverbs 6:6-8 instead of 11. Just something that I noticed.
And to batspiderfish: sorry that I didn't fully use your advice. I will listen more now.
I also want to become experienced and help other people on this forum. Could I improve my knowledge in a way?

Thx, Brentywenty

Oh, Thanks for letting me know! I think I copied and pasted that verse and deleted the last few verses since they didn't have anything to do with ants. I must have forgotten to change it to prov. 6:6-8.
Technically I did have the opportunity to keep pogernomyrmex once, (which is semi claustral). I caught a pogernomyrmex queen, but I was just starting out ant keeping and I was afraid that it would be too difficult to keep her, and I was also afraid of the stings and bites. Also i didn't have a setup large enough (tunnel width) to keep them so I released her. Since then I haven't found any semi claustral species and there aren't any GAN farmers in my area anymore.

Proverbs 6:6-8

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.

Hey, I'm back with another problem: I have a well-doing lasius niger colony caught this summer and I'm trying to move their colony to another tube because the other tube is not really clean and it's for hibernation and I'm really trying my best like, I use a lamp to shine on them every evening for about three hours and I exposed their tube to light while the other tube is covered and completely dark. But they just won't move. I have also some bacteria, I think in the outworld. That could be because I don't clean well enough. How do I clean these bacteria's. The other problem is that I have another lasius flavus queen and this queen has already eggs for about four weeks. They are not developping. Maybe because she eats them because of stress or it just takes long. But I don't want it to take long, because I really want to hibernate her, but I also don't want to kill the eggs. And my myrmica queen didn't lay eggs, still.

But if you could help me, thanks, Brentywenty
Here pics of the bacteria:https://photos.app.goo.gl/wxGXQd0zhxvDc7fB3
the white spots are the bacteria. They are actually light green but on photo they look white.

If the ants don't feel the need to move, they probably don't have to. I always like to start hibernation with a fresh tube as well though, so if worst comes to worst, you could tap them into the other tube. Not recommended, kinda risky, but if you really want her to change the tubes before hibernation then that is an option. As far as the outworld, you can probably just take a sponge with some natural soap on it and scrub it off, then try to wipe the soap off of the rock. You should just hibernate your queen with the slow developing eggs. Just try not to bother her much.

Proverbs 6:6-8

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.

If the ants don't feel the need to move, they probably don't have to. I always like to start hibernation with a fresh tube as well though, so if worst comes to worst, you could tap them into the other tube. Not recommended, kinda risky, but if you really want her to change the tubes before hibernation then that is an option. As far as the outworld, you can probably just take a sponge with some natural soap on it and scrub it off, then try to wipe the soap off of the rock. You should just hibernate your queen with the slow developing eggs. Just try not to bother her much.

Thanks for the help. Without you I didn't know all these things. I'm very thankful for that. If I could do anything back, I would do that. But I also have one more question: what is tapping into another tube. And also: is natural soap like soap in the form of bar.
Thx, Brentywenty.

If the ants don't feel the need to move, they probably don't have to. I always like to start hibernation with a fresh tube as well though, so if worst comes to worst, you could tap them into the other tube. Not recommended, kinda risky, but if you really want her to change the tubes before hibernation then that is an option. As far as the outworld, you can probably just take a sponge with some natural soap on it and scrub it off, then try to wipe the soap off of the rock. You should just hibernate your queen with the slow developing eggs. Just try not to bother her much.

Thanks for the help. Without you I didn't know all these things. I'm very thankful for that. If I could do anything back, I would do that. But I also have one more question: what is tapping into another tube. And also: is natural soap like soap in the form of bar.
Thx, Brentywenty.

No problem! I enjoy it Basically what I mean is to literally tape the old tube's opening to the new tubes opening, then turn it vertical (so that the colony will fall into the new tube) and then tap on the side of the old tube to get any eggs stuck on the cotton into the new tube. Like I said, not recommended, and risky, but I have done it before to my Lasius Neoniger. When i think of natural soap I think of something advertised as natural with simple ingredients. for instance I have a bar of natural olive oil soap that just has saponified olive oil, water, and salt. Something like this should not harm your colony. If anyone thinks otherwise, please say so though.

Proverbs 6:6-8

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.